host:ou touched on this on the top, but remind us of the history. it was kind of an ad hoc process through most of the 20th country, but starting in 1980 congress passed the refugee act, which allowed people to apply for asylum if they have a well- founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, their political opinion, or membership in a particular group. host: what prompted congress to pass that law? guest: one was the united states signed an international treaty to protect refugees. but the underlying premise was the cold war. the soviet union was persecuting people, and the united states wanted to have a statutory basis for giving refuge to those people. schrag, georgetown university law center, thank you for your time. now live coverage from the

house. the honorable doug collins to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2013, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes each, t in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. quigley, for five minutes. mr. quigley: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today because last week my district experienced its second storm of the century mountain last three years. century in nce --

the last three years. its third since 2008. definition do our of the 100-year year. it's a fact that more stronger, destructive storms are pounding our country and resulting in huge costs. while some don't believe in climate change, i hope they believe in funding flood control. we owe it to our constituents. i spent most of this past weekend touring my district with floods -- touring flooded streets and basements throughout. everywhere i went i encountered residents who lost their homes, their belongings and their peace of mind. the residents i talked to asked two things, what was their government going to do to help, and why is this happening after the horrific flooding in 2010? i said my office would do everything they could to bring federal disaster relief to their homes and businesses but

unfortunately federal help can be an uphill fight. it is based on a population formula that penalizes big states like illinois. big states have to suffer more damage before meeting the aid threshold. this process of avoiding aid is unfair and we need to -- awarding aid is unfair and we need to change it. i raised this issue on the transportation and infrastructure committee. i was glad that fema will refew the process in awarding disaster -- review the process in awarding disaster aid. but it's of little consolation to those who lost their homes and businesses. after 43 counties declared disaster areas, we don't need a study. the people of my district and others across the state need our help. fema needs to act and act without delay to get illinois back on its feet. every town in my district has projects that will help lessen the impact of the next storm.

storm sewer improvements, swells, planning more wetlands, permable pavers, a deep tunnel project can lessen or even prevent disaster. we need to find the funds for these local projects that will ultimately save millions in tax dollars in damages. for the chicago area, that means demanding a $35 million per year in federal funding that is needed to complete the mccook and thornton reservoirs. these reservoirs are part of a larger flood mitigation plan, put in place over 0 years ago by the arm -- 20 years ago by the army corps of engineers. they are holding up their completion because of budget issues. local budgets are just a start, though. we also need to address the question of why 100-year storms are recurring so often. climate change is here and we must address it now. with a sensible energy policy, development of alternative energy sources and commonsense conservation we can begin to

confront one of the great challenges of our time. if we don't, then the storms of last week in the midwest and last fall on the east coast will be the new normal, and that's a normal none of us can afford. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for five minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, today i rise to honor the united states army reserve. celebrates 105 years of service defending our country this week. these citizen soldiers are actively engaged as citizens in our communities and volunteers in the army who are ready to step in and fulfill any mission. they are our friends, our family, our neighbors, coaches and teachers, police and firefighters. reservists are nearly every

profession across every community in the nation. our nation has now been at war for a decade, yet, a smaller percentage of our citizens have been in the armed forces. the army reserve offers a reminder that our nation rests on the strength of brave soldiers who volunteer to step forward and make tremendous sacrifices. today i wish a special 105th birthday to all the men and women serving in the united states army reserve and welcome some of them to capitol hill to participate in army day, to remind us all of the sacrifices that they make every day to defend this country. to the men and women of the united states army reserve, i salute you, thank you. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, today i rise to talk about the national shame of child hunger in america.

i wish it didn't exist, but we can't ignore the fact there are more than 16 million kids in america who are food insecure. quite simply, that means more than 16 million children went hungry in 2011. that's unconscionable and that's unacceptable. hunger has no place in the richest, most prosperous nation on earth. letting anyone in this country go without food is bad enough, but letting children go hungry is more than heartbreaking. it's just plain wrong. yet, we let it happen every day in america. 16 million children, mr. speaker. that means one in five kids in america go to bed hungry and wake up hungry at some point in their lives during the year. that means one in five kids don't know when their next meal's coming. we are allowing more than 16 million kids to wake up hungry, go to school hungry and go to sleep hungry. we are allowing more than 16 million kids to be deprived of proper nutrition, the nutrition contained in good, healthy foods that helps children's minds and bodies properly develop. we are allowing more than 16 million kids to struggle in

school and have problems with learning simply because they suffer from hunger. child hunger has many impacts. kids who don't eat enough good, healthy food will not develop properly. they have more health problems, they require more costly health care than children who don't have to worry about hunger. sometimes the lack of food results in developmental problems and learning disabilities. other times hunger simply doesn't allow kids to concentrate. these problems can lead to undereducation which can have long term effects which can lead to low-paying jobs and even unemployment. america has different programs and some of these programs are specifically designed for children. snap is the biggest anti-hunger program in the federal government. it does a good job, but there are still many ways it can be improved. over many years we've created the national school breakfast program and the national school lunch program. in order to meet increased demand, we now have after-school snack and meal

program, but these programs are inadequate in many ways. the breakfast and lunch programs provide a free or reduced meal. the reduced price meals are available to kids of families who are poor but not poor enough to qualify for the free plan. this means there are days and even weeks when a child's family simply may not have enough money to pay for the reduced price meal. that's another problem. breakfast is served before school starts meaning poor kids have to get to school early just to get a good meal. this could create a stigma where these kids get teased and bully because they're poor. and they may not have regular access to a school breakfast if their parents can't get to the school on time or if the school buses don't deliver them early enough to be able to benefit from this breakfast. organizations like the e.o. foundation in massachusetts and states like west virginia are working to fix this by promoting breakfast at the bell

programs. a solution i strongly support. and then there are weekends where schools aren't open. food banks, churches, synagogues, mosques and other anti-hunger organizations are filling that gap with food backpacks that are given out on friday afternoons. mr. speaker, as a candidate, then-senator obama pledged to under childhood hunger by 2015. it was a good idea then and it's a good idea now. many pushed for a comprehensive child food hunger program. we wear these buttons to show our support. but, mr. speaker, 2015 is only two years away. there is no way we're going to make that goal. but it doesn't mean we should give up. now is the time to redouble our efforts. now is the time to make the pledge to end hunger now, and that's not just a clever tag line. no, mr. speaker. we can end hunger now if we start with a commitment to develop a comprehensive plan to do so. that's why i continue to call for presidential leadership on this serious matter. we need a white house conference on food and

nutrition to develop a comprehensive plan that will address all aspects of hunger america, especially child hunger. we need this conference to bring all the stakeholders like the eos foundation, governor and other political leaders from west virginia and other states and other organizations that are typically not in the anti-hunger movement. we need faith-based leaders, pediatricians, schools, nutritionists together in one room to develop a comprehensive plan, take assignments and make it work. if we do this we can end hunger now. mr. speaker, hunger is a political condition. we have everything we need to end it. we lack the political will. i urge my colleagues to make this issue a priority. end hunger now. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. posey, for five minutes. mr. posey: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. posey: thank you, mr. speaker. we believe what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

that's why i was a little bit shocked when it was brought to my attention by a number of my colleagues that they received an economic census in the mail, a very complex 14-page document asking them very great detail about their business, about their suppliers, about their cost, about who they sell to, who their customers are. and these were received by mom and pop businesses, sometimes just mom businesses, no pop. one-person businesses. one said it will take me two days to fill out this questionnaire. i have to work. if i don't work two days, my business will go down the drain. so i wondered how important this information was. so i wrote a letter to the department of commerce and the census bureau to ask just a few questions about it. i asked about their constitutional authority to do that, and they gave me their statutory authority. i'll talk about their letter in

a minute. then while they didn't have time to answer my letter on a timely basis, they did have time to send another relatively harassing business to the businesses threatening them with more penalties, fine and just scared the daylights out of them if they didn't take time to return that form. i finally got my response from them, and what i found was that they didn't answer all my questions. i asked them to please provide me with the information describing the universe, the economic census questionnaires were mailed to and how they were selected. no answer. one constituent who received the questionnaire was a sole proprietor with no employees. another with two employees. please provide me a summary, if you have one, as to how many businesses into which economic censuses were mailed, small businesses, corporations.

were there any fortune 500 companies? crickets. they didn't tell me. please tell me how many federal employees from your agencies were involved in the development and execution of the economic census? do you not need to count the postal service while -- postal service time while delivering the returning of forms? no answer. please provide me with the names of any federal employees associated with the development of the economic census that have owned or operated any businesses in the private sector whatsoever. no answer whatsoever. please provide me with the entity that provided the detailed information and praysal information to citizens that you've requested from the people you're supposed to serb. no answer. the cost to completing the questionnaire will be costly to small business. how much do you anticipate the cost of labor will be to business to comply with your request to complete the questionnaire? no answer. please advise how the information gleamed from these questionnaires will be used. they gave me some

generalizations. please explain the benefit you anticipate the public will gain from the questionnaire. we'll sort of. they said it will help them look at statistics. please employee advise -- provide me with a one-page your employees. the aggregate cost of all performing activities should be equal to the exact amount of money that was passed through your agencies during a one-year period. of course they did not answer that. they have no problem demanding that information from the private sector, but the government sector is completely unwilling to go to the least little of trouble to provide congress with that same information. . we are often thought to believe that what's good for the goose is good for the gander. i will persist on trying to get

answers to those questions for the constituents in my district and hopefully for those in your districts that have also been interested. i'd also like to say i'm pleased to be here today and joined by resident commissioner pierre lucy -- pierluisi awarding puerto rico's 65th infantry regiment. when the korean war erupted in 1950, the soldiers of the regiment served in a segregated unit. despite president truman's order desegregating the military two years earlier. army commanders doubted the effectiveness of the puerto rican troops of the calling them rum and coca-cola soldiers. they were required to use separate showering facilities and ordered under penalty of court-martial not to speak spanish. they were even told to shave their mustaches until they gave proof of their manhood.

despite the adversity, the regiment embraced their hispanic heritage, calling thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to address the house or one minute. i thank the speaker. sequester starts with s, that stands for stupid. with an irrational policy no common sense attached to it and it is a policy that we are headlong pursuing as a result of the actions of the majority in this house. it is a policy that the president of the united states opposes. it is a policy that the majority in the united states

senate opposes. -- t is a policy that the all of the members of the democratic party in this house oppose. my friend on the fore here shakes his head. but he voted for a bill, it was called cut, cap, and balance. and cut, cap, and balance said we have a target. but if we don't meet it what happens? sequester happens. sequester happens. and the republicans passed that through this house long before any deal was made not to default on our national debt. which included a provision for sequester so that we would achieve speaker boehner's objective articulated in march, 2011 on wall street that we would cut dollar for dollar the increase in the debt. that's why we have sequester.

it starts with s. it is a stupid policy. it is a negative policy. it is a policy that is hurting america. chris van hollen, the ranking democrat of the budget committee, offered an amendment four times to replace the sequester, and achieve the same savings. it was rejected not once, not twice, not three times, but all four times by the republican majority. they wouldn't even allow it to be made in order to be put on this floor to have a debate on and a vote. this transparent new leadership that he we were supposed to have wouldn't even allow a vote on this issue. and now the senate's passed a budget which the republicans have been crying wolf about

forever. the senate passed a budget. it replaces sequester. it achieves the savings that we need to achieve over time. the ryan budget was passed which is tantamount to sequester. so now we are asking go to conference. but we haven't gone to conference. and this week has been a lost week. you have heard about a lost weekend. this week this house has done practically nothing. now we are going to take two days, today and tomorrow, to consider a bill about helium that could be passed in 10 minutes which is noncontroversial. passed out of committee by a voice vote. would we deal with the sequester which is causing america such grief right now? we will not. it is a shameful performance by the congress of the united states. it is an irresponsible performance by the majority

leadership of this house. that we will not have the opportunity to replace this irrational, stupid, non commonsense policy we call sequester. some republicans say well, the president, this is the president's polcy. that's baloney. -- polcy. that's baloney. it's not true. it's a fraud. the president's against this policy, the senate democrats are against this policy, house democrats are against this policy, and if i were the majority leader, as i once was, this policy would not have gone into effect. and i want the american people, mr. speaker, to know that. there were some that pretend there will have no effect. it's having an effect on the flying public right now. and the food and drug administration, food safety will have an effect, 70,000 children who qualify for head start will not have a seat in

head start. ladies and gentlemen of this house, we ought to be doing some real work this week. not putting bills on the floor and then taking them off the floor because the majority party can't get its act together. not having a helium bill on the floor for two days. we are not even going to vote on the bill. we are going to vote on the rule, and about 2:30 today we are going to adjourn. my, my, my, what a hard workday. we are not dealing with the bunt -- budget. we are not dealing with the budget conference. we are not dealing with getting this country on a fiscally sustainable path. we are not dealing with getting rid of the sequester. we are dealing with a noncontroversial helium bill that could pass in 10 minutes on this house. america, mr. speaker, is angry. i don't blame them. i'm angry, too.

america's disgusted with us, i don't blame them. i'm disgusted with us as well. i don't blame mr. and mrs. america for saying that congress is not doing its work. they are right. e are not. we were sent here to serve the american people and our country and make it stronger. and we are not doing that. we are failing to come together and reach compromise and consensus for positive action in our country. how sad, mr. speaker. how sad for our country, how sad for our people. how sad for our families. there are good people on both sides of the aisle, but we are not coming together to do our duty for america. how sad. i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, several years ago in salt lake city, utah, there was a happy family, mom and dad, six kids, happy as they could be. on a typical summer day, june 5, 2002, the kids and the family had their prayers to the girls, went up to their room, the older girl read to the younger girl, they went to sleep, and then the nightmare began. in the middle of the night the older girl, who was 14, 14-year-old child, was awakened . the man that woke her up had a knife to her throat. the younger girl woke up, too, but was in fear and shock and

terror and could not physically even move. so the kidnapper took the 14-year-old girl, climbed out the window with her, and at knife point he left in the middle of the night. finally the younger girl was able to get some type of composure and tell her parents what had happened. the police get involved and they start looking. for elizabeth smart. but they didn't find her that night. and they didn't find her the next day. because elizabeth smart had been kidnapped by an individual that took her to a secluded place. the first thing he did, of course, he wanted to abuse her, and he did. he sexually assaulted her. and he sexually assaulted her. and he sexually assaulted her. he tied her between two trees, mr. speaker, and sexually assaulted her. he did everything he wanted to

do to her for nine months. hat 14-year-old girl was gone, kidnapped, parents scared to death and worried about one of their six children. the police were looking, but they never found her. not for nine months. this evil person that kidnapped elizabeth arranged a fake marriage to try to marry her even though he was married to another individual lawfully. so the wife, the abuser, elizabeth smart, stayed sort of in hiding in the salt lake city area. but the abuser occasionally would leave and take elizabeth smart with him, but he he would tell her, if you ever scream and tell anybody, i will kill

your family. she believed that. a 14-year-old girl obviously would believe that. so she never cried out. because she didn't want anything bad to happen to her wonderful family. meanwhile, mom and dad and the others and sisters every day hope, but no results in finding her. the evildoer would even make, when she would go out with him, forcibly, he would put a wig over her head, put a veil, disguise her so if people in the salt lake city area knew elizabeth smart they wouldn't recognize her. finally after nine months elizabeth smart was with the evil sexual person that sexually assaulted her and his wife and a police car stopped.

the police car started questioning elizabeth smart. she didn't say anything. because she remembered that the evildoer said he would kill her family. unbeknownst to elizabeth her sister had given the police a sketch of the person who had kidnapped her and the police took elizabeth smart to the police station and after a few minutes in comes her father. she was rescued after nine months. elizabeth smart now, she's 27 years of age, and she has used this awful tragedy of being kidnapped and sexually assaulted as a child to help other sexual assault victims in this country. she started the elizabeth smart foundation. a couple weeks ago she was in houston. spoke very forcefully to a group of women, several hundred, about being abused. and so this victims rights

week, mr. speaker, i want to honor elizabeth smart and all those other sexual assault victims that have -- been assaulted by evil people in this country and let us remember to support them totally in their recovery. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico, mr. pierluisi, for five minutes. mr. speaker, today congressman bill pozzi of florida and i will introduce bipartisan legislation to award a congressional gold medal to the 65th infantry regiment, the named u.s. army unit known as the borinqueneers composed almost enthrire from soldiers of the u.s. territory of puerto rico that overcame

discrimination and earned praise and respect for its combat performance in the korean war. the congressional gold medal is considered the most distinguished form of recognition that congress acting on behalf of a grateful nation can bestow upon an individual or group in recognition of outstanding and enduring achievement. as our legislation states, they are deserving of this award because of the pioneering military service, devotion to duty and many acts of valor in the face of adversity. between 1950 and 1953, the regimen participated in some of the fiercest battles of the korean war and the toughness, courage and loyalty earned the admiration of those who had admirations of puerto rican soldiers based on stereotypes. many of those was william

harris who served as the regimen's commander during the early stages of the war. harris recounts he was reluctant to take command of the unit because like many u.s. military leaders he assumed that puerto rican soldiers were not as capable as other troops. following the war, harris recalled that his skeptical attitude did not -- that in fact his experience ultimately led him to reregard the men of the 65th as the best soldiers he had ever seen. another individual who came to hold the 65th in high esteem was general douglas mcarthur. in march, 1951, after months of heavy engagement with the enemy in which the 65th played a critical role, general mcarthur wrote the following -- the puerto ricans forming the ranks of the 65th infantry on the battlefields of korea by valor, determination and resolute will to victory give daily testament

to their invincible loyalty to the united states. the record of achievement in battle and i'm proud to have them in this command. i wish we will have many more like them. by the time fighting came to a close in korea in july, 1953, soldiers in the 65th had earned 10 distinguished service crosses, about 250 silver stars, over 600 bronze stars and nearly 3,000 purple hearts. as a collective, the regimen won numerous wars, including two presidential unit citations, the nation's highest unit recognition for extraordinary heroism. the unit's disproportionately high casualty rate underscored they have been serving on the front lines, face-to-face with the enemy at the very tip of the speer. in the 2010 obituary that appeared in "the new york times" for an 87-year-old, one

of the most decorated soldiers from the regimen, it was observed that puerto rican surmounted not only the others. enemy but during a ceremony honoring the regimen he said, the soldiers of the 65th were fighting to protect the people of south korea even as they struggled against injustice in the ranks of the military that they loved and served so well. mr. speaker, in the face of unique challenges, the men of the 65th infantry regimen served our nation with great skill and tremendous grace. their contributions to our country have been recognized in many forms. streets and parks bear their name. monuments and plaques memorialize their accomplishments and cities and states have approved resolutions in their honor. i believe it is time that congress pay tribute to the 65th and so i ask my colleagues

to join me in the effort to award the regimen with the congressional gold medal. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from iowa, mr. king, for five minutes. mr. king: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm here today to ask my colleagues to join me in supporting an end to forced union deuce in america. i'm talking about the national right to work act. i recently reintroduced here in the 113th congress and that's h.r. 946, mr. speaker. every american should have the power to negotiate with their employer and do that about the terms of employment but no american should be forced to pay union deuce just to get or keep a job. however, when congress enacted the national labor relations ct in 1935, it established monopoly bargaining and that monopoly bargaining constricts workers into paying union

deuce. it doesn't sound like the america i know. in 1947 congress admitted this provision violated the rights of workers because the votes weren't there to fully repeal, they allowed the states to opt out of the nlra's monopoly bargaining statute and that was a provision that the states, though, had to pass laws to exempt themselves. today, 24 states have enacted these right to work laws, and because of that they've been able to mitigate the negative effects of our misguided federal labor law on their citizens and their economy. iowa is one of those states. but the fact remains that congress created this problem in the first place by making forced unionization the default position for all states. since congress created this problem, it is congress' responsibility to correct it. the national right to work act does so without adding a single new word by -- to the federal code by simply erasing the forced deuce clauses in the

federal stetch -- dues clause in the federal statute. they should be there today because we now have decades of data to compare forced union dues, workplace-to-workplace freedom states. it suggests that the national right to work act would create a huge boost in our economy and therefore i urge congress to take up the national right to work act and, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from utah, mr. matheson, for five minutes. mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the life of an inspirational young man from my district. mitchell d. jones from utah passed away on march 2 of this year after a life-long battle with muscular dystrophy. mitch was a beloved son, brother and latter day saint.

he lived life to the fullest and loved others sely. in the vs,ch was a typical 10-year-old boy playing board games, building with leggos, four-wheeling, camping and enjoying the outdoors in utah with his family. his sense of humor of adventure and of devotion to his family touched thousands. both in his life and in his passing, mitch's dignity and gentleness, strength of spirit and quiet resolve reveal his exceptional character. i hope you will join me today in honoring the life of this very special young man who brought others together, who touched lives in a profound way and who inspired us all. mitch's parents, chris and natalie jones, have humbly shared their family's journey with our community in utah and with countless others around the world. they opened their lives and mitch's story so they might serve others, bringing an important awareness and a

better understanding of their son's condition and that of others with due shane muscular muscular dystrophy. i ask you to follow his father's base book journal called mitchell's journey. this coming monday on april 29, we'll honor the life of mitchell jones day. here in our nation's capital, we can join together to do the same by familiarizing ourselves with the disease that ultimately took mitch's life. muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that affects young boys that has muscle weakness and degeneration. it is typically diagnosed early in life and is fatal in the late teens and early 20's. for some, like mitch, the disease progresses quickly and affects the voluntary muscles of limbs and torso and the

involuntary muscle of the heart and lungs. as legislators, it is stories like this, like mitch's, that should remind us of the magnitude of our decisions about time and resources. the course we chart for our country is real for families like the joneses -- jones' in every congressional district. i think we have the potential to improve the outcomes of muscular dystrophy and so many other diseases that our children face. i think this should be a bipartisan effort. as we work in service of our constituents, i hope we will in reflect on the jones utah and real american families. these are citizens who inspire us to work harder, do better, solve problems and to make a difference. mitch's legacy is one of love and compassion, an inspiring young man who faced each new challenge with bravery and faith. here in congress we should

strive to live and serve in the same way. mr. speaker, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio, mr. turner, for five minutes. mr. turner: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, the american public always decries the partisan tone that happens here on this house floor and i'm always amazed when people come down to the house floor and rail on republicans and democrats and try to give blame. i'm always particularly amazed when someone comes to the house floor and blame the republicans and voted for the bill. it would have been nice if the stwintsy was there in the actual voting record besides just the attempt to blame republicans. this clearly was a project that was proposed by the president. i opposed it because i knew it was going to wreak havoc on our national security and i wish those who now see its folly actually had voted against it when it was on the house floor. mr. speaker, i'm here today to talk about energy security. it continues to play an

important role in global relationships and dialogue. and my role as chairman of the u.s.delegation to the native parliamentary assembly, many foreign leaders and officials have expressed to me the need to diversify energy resources away from one source or from unstabled regions. as we all know, the united states is currently experiencing a surplus of natural gas production. helping to keep the price low compared to global rates. this is creating opportunities to boost job growth right here at home and for u.s. natural gas to compete in the global marketplace. in fact, a recent department of energy commission report found that increasing exports of natural gas would have positive economic benefits for our country. in my home state of ohio, exploration and development in the uttica shale would create or support nearly 66,000 jobs in ohio by 2014. mr. speaker, increasing natural gas exports would not only help reduce our trade deficit and create job opportunities for american workers but would also

key allies to diversify their energy resources, strengthen our strategic alliances. many of our allies are heavily reliant on natural gas from either one country or from unstable regions and are paying significantly higher prices. several of the largest natural gas importers are also nato members with strong national ties to the united states. in recent years several european countries have had natural gas supply disruption. turkey relies on 20% of its natural gas from iran. earlier this year, islamic militants attacked a facility in nigeria which is the large -- third largest natural gas supplier to europe. one may need to seek greater imports of gas as a result of the 2011 nuclear plant disaster. japan already relies on 42% of its natural gas from russia, the middle east and north africa. mr. speaker, the surplus of

u.s. natural gas production is already having an impact on global natural gas markets. natural gas previously destined for the united states but no longer needed as a result of our domestic increase production has been diverted to other market. for example, in 2002, nearly half of the natural gas supplied to europe was purchased under spot contracts. helping our allies diversify their energy resources is important to strengthen our partnerships and bolster security. under section 3 of the natural gas act, companies seeking to export natural gas must receive permits from the department of energy which determines if such exports are in the public interest. exports permits to u.s. free trade countries are automatically approved, nonfree trade countries must go through a process. when it comes to exporting u.s. goods, we often talk about barriers in other countries for u.s. producers to -- they just overcome to sell their products. but in this instance we have a domestic barrier that presents us -- prevents us from exporting our natural gas to

consumers willing to buy. there are 20 applications before the department of energy from companies seeking approval to export natural gas. as the department of energy evalue waits these applications, i hope it takes into consideration the domestic benefits. i have authored a bipartisan and bicameral legislation, h.r. 580, the liquefied natural gas for americans act which would make approval of export licenses to nato countries and japan automatic. this bill creates a process that allows the addition of other foreign countries to this list if the secretary of state deems in consultation with the secretary of defense that is good for our country. mr. speaker, exporting natural gas creates opportunities while helping to bolster our strategic alliances. i ask my colleagues to support this important bill that would have great economic impacts to the united states. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. without objection.

ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, later on today the president will join my fellow texans in west, texas, to mourn the loss of so many who died in a tragic plant explosion last week. many of them were first responders, and many who will come to mourn and to celebrate life and the life of west, texas, will be those who have been harmed and injured. i will join them in spirit as i know my colleagues here today will. that's why as i rise today to commemorate and salute two gospel music titans it becomes even more appropriate to salute my friend, james, "jazzy"

jordan, and mr. don jackson for they understand the value and the message of gospel music. gospel music holds a special place in the american experience gospel music was a release for hardship, but it was also a form of praise and protest. i want to thank jazzy jordan for understanding that as we introduced in 2008 the gospel music heritage legislation that establishes september in the united states of america as gospel music heritage month. e hope that americans no matter what their religious background or nonreligious background will find relief in this joyful and comforting music. spirituals once sung by slaves transformed into gospel songs sung by free people who had their own place to express their emotions and tell their stories in music.

those spirituals have translated now into gospel music. gospel music could express the joys and sorrows of so many people. all of us remember and have often sung the song "amazing grace" created by one who saw this wonderful, resilient of their life when they thought they had been lost. that is truly american and american gospel music. we know the early founders, thomas dorsey, mahalia jackson, and now today kirk franklin,olanda adams, among so many, and those influenced by gospel music, al green, elvis presley, aretha franklin, little richard, buddy holly among many. jazzy jordan understands that and is now the head of the jordan western group a film and production house in washington, d.c. a brilliant businessman he had a great love of gospel music,

we were grateful for the group known as r.c.a. inspiration. mr. jordan was the founding board member of the gospel music heritage foundation, co-chair with gospel music advocate mr. davis of my istrict. he's an executive producer for gold platinum, grammy, stellar award winning projection. throughout his career he served as a creative producer, marketted and promoted many award winning c.d.'s that included kirk franklin and as well worked with p.j. "jazzy" and the fresh prince, will smith. oh, he knows music. and to tell you that he does he he has engaged and worked with the likes of kirk franklin, red hammond, richard smallwood and dwayne s,

wood, mr. jordan is truly one who lives his life in commemorating and cultivating and nurturing the gospel tradition and the gospel tradition that has now spread beyond, beyond the borders of this nation. he is joined by mr. don jackson, the founder, chairman, and c.e.o. of the 41 hero central city production. now the founder and organizer of the stellar awards. i'm grateful mr. jackson thought it was important to recognize those who excelled in gospel music. he graduated from northwestern university, entered a career in media and broadcasting with a number of stations, wbee, wbon, a top radio station in chicago. as he founded the central city marketing in 1970, his company over 41 years involved itself in encouraging and helping

others promote their issues. involvement in promotion and sales and production of media and television. but his first gospel music awards show in the united states was produced by his company. the stellar awards honors gospel music artists, industry professionals. he's one who has featured so many artists. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, as i close let me simply say these two men are more than deserving of being american icons and we congratulate them for loving, cherishing, and promoting gospel music. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. waters, for five minutes. without objection. ms. waters: mr. speaker, i rise today to discuss the impact of sequestration is having on our country. although i did not support the decision that led to

sequestration, i remain committed to protecting the american people from the most harmful and potentially dangerous outcomes he related to sequestration. sequestration simply means budget cuts. extraordinary budget cuts. every moment we spend here in washington should be spent working to improve the lives and opportunities for the american people. to that end, we should be focused on legislation to avert sequestration and improve our economy. as our minority whip said here this morning, we passed a budget off the floor of the house. it's the ryan budget, and it protects sequestration. it wants all of the cuts to take place. on the senate side they passed a budget that does away with the onerous sequestration budget cuts. and now we need a conference

committee. simply meaning we need both sides to come together and resolve their differences and move on with having a budget for this country, but the republicans are saying no. and as it was mentioned by our in rity whip, we here washington, d.c., fiddling while rome burns. we are not taking care of any real business. they will not bring a conference committee together to resolve these differences. the simplest way to describe the sequester is to say that this was an avoidable self-inflicted wound. a vocal republican opposition over the budget led to an agreement which ultimately resulted in the sequestration decision. republican leadership has failed to bring to the floor this week measures to build our economy. we should be focused on salient

measures designed to grow our economy and create jobs. republican leadership has also failed to fully address the issues arising from sequestration. although it is clear that these cuts are arbitrary, indiscriminate, and far too blunt. the american people may be aware of the obvious impact of sequestration such as the closing of national parks and elimination of tours at the white house. however americans might not be aware of how sequestration can impact important parts of their lives and this economy. let's take air travel. some of you have heard about what is going on in our airports. imagine that you are trying to get to the airport to catch a flight to attend your daughter's wedding or graduation or to see about a sick relative or you are a

business traveler trying to meet a potential client for the first time. well, sequestration could soon impact all of your travel plans. due to sequestration the federal aviation agency addressed the shortage in their funding by furloughing 47,000 -- 47,200 employees and expected to close certain airports. as a result we are witnessing airplanes remaining on the tarmac for hours. the traveling public is expecting flight delays and cancellations at airports all across the country. the impact of sequestration is being felt by the thousands of travelers who utilize our airways every day. ladies and gentlemen, it's going to get worse. along with flight delays, airline travelers can expect increased wait times in airport security lines because the

travel security administration has also had to furlough screening agents in response to sequestration. i represent los angeles international airport, which is the sixth busy questions airport in the world and the third busiest airport in the united states. i understand the impact that flight delays will have not only on those traveling for leisure but also on the airline industry and business travelers. these furloughs are problematic for airports of any size. the importance of the air traffic controllers at l.a.x. and across the country cannot be understated. god forbid that there should be an accident that could have been averted. no explanation could possibly make amends for the resulting loss of life. this is simply unacceptable. ladies and gentlemen, i could talk about a lot more, national security, housing, health care,

all of that, but the fact of the matter is -- the gentlelady's time has expired. -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. waters: i'm disappointed. i want this congress to get on with the business of getting a budget and representing the people that sent them here to represent them. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california for five minutes. without objection. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise today to address the number of times that congress has dropped the ball when it comes to our budget. but i'm also here to say we can fix it. mr. cardenas: last year, congress passed the only law i have ever seen that was designed to never be enforced. it's called sequestration. sequestration was actually designed to cut spending across the board in a way that was so offensive and so illogical that

it could never survive as a law. it was law that was meant to unify both sides of the aisle in an effort to develop a comprehensive deal to fix the economy and our deficit. a responsible congress could have stopped those ridiculous cuts. in fact, i agree with smart mark warner who happens to be a former governor who ran a budget, his state of virginia's budget, and he calls, i quote, he called this stupid. mr. van hollen, who i work with on the budget committee, introduced commonsense legislation that would have responsibly reduced our deficit and ended the sequester. unfortunately the republican majority refused to allow an up or down vote on this floor for that straightforward legislation. they doubled down on irresponsible policies based on an economic map that we now know is completely flawed. it reminded me of a story, two guys are in a lifeboat and the one holding the oar says, this is a bad situation.

and one of us ain't going to make it. it doesn't take a genius to figure out who the guy with the oar is talking about. all of us are in this lifeboat togeth and we know where the majority stands. they are not rogue for the middle class, they are just fighting to protect billionaires and make their their special interest keep their tax breaks. we hope families, business -- we know families and businesses will continue to be hurt by what we do or don't do. you have seen it, f.a.a. fur he lows are causing flight delays. one example how we continue to hurt our economy. we can do better. we can right a legitimate measured budget for this country. mr. speaker, rush this -- return this house to regular order. our house has a budget, the senate has a budget. let's go to conference and start negotiating a real american budget. the american people deserve some certainty and they certainly deserve to know what priorities are important to their relected representatives. for those watching at home, why is the conference committee so

important? because there are vast differences between the budgets currently on the table. a conference committee negotiates in full view of the public on principles and priorities that set funding for thxt fiscal year. let's talk about this like my republican colleagues' favorite thing to talk about it, let's talk about it like people do at the kitchen table. their paychecks are cut or an unforeseen emergency happens in a family, they don't pay 10% less on their mortgage or require 10% less of the medications they depend on, instead, we make smart cuts, we stop buying the things we don't need but we don't stop educating our children. at least in my house my wife and i decide don't decide what's important to us and ignore everyone else. that doesn't work in families and it doesn't work in washington. we sit down like adults, at least we should. and congress, around some kitchen table, and figure out

what we can buy and what we can't. we work through today's needs for our future, we don't stop investing in had our families. like senator warner said, that would be stupid. we must create an american budget that vests in job growth, educating our future work force. we can make cuts but cuts that make sense. let's root out the waste, let's root out the fraud and abuse and cut tax loopholes to make sure everyone pays their fair share. the american people have shown us what to do. let's get around a table, let's name conferees and show the people who sent us here that we can be responsible and keep the promise of the american dream a reality. ladies and gentlemen, i've been honored to be elected at the state legislative level in california. i've been honored to be a

councilmember. now since january of this year, i've been a member of this body, and i'm very, very disappointed. i've never in my life, in business and at home and in elected office, i've never seen a situation so stagnant, so stale and so damaging to the people who sent us here to represent them. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york, mr. owens, for five minutes. mr. owens: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the life of a constituent of world war ii veteran norwood, new york. he served the nation in the air force during world war ii. after he was honorably discharged in 1948, he returned home to upstate new york and married his wife, carol ion, in -- caroline, in 1950. like so many veterans, he

helped build the modern middle class. fter the war, he worked at the 7-up bottling company in utica, new york. in 1957, he was initially employed at the state university of new york in the mail room. he retired from potsdam as the plant soup intendent for heating, -- superintendent for heating. he was part of the success of at housands of students suny potsdam. he remained active as a member of the potsdam elk's lodge, the v.f.w., the american legion and knights of columbus. he was an avid hunter. he will be missed by his son, sister, two daughters and six grandchildren as well as four great grandchildren. like so many of that generation, he lived by the

motto, i was just doing my job. that is something we in washington should clearly immolate. i thank you for joining with me baladini's life and service to our country. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. hartzler, for five minutes. mrs. hartzler: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in response to a situation which is currently causing a great deal of concern among law-abiding citizens in my home state of missouri. we have learned through the diligent work of state senator kurt schaefer and others in state government that the missouri department of revenue, which issues conceal carry permits in our state, from improperly allowed the sensitive, personal information to be shared with the federal government. this egregious disregard for privacy rights has led last

week to the resignation of the director of the state department of revenue. while missourians are pleased that this inappropriate sharing of information has been discovered, we're still trying to determine why information on who is legally licensed to carry concealed firearms was surrendered to federal authorities in the first place. i stand with missouri's elected representatives as they pursue all legal avenues to learn why the missouri department of revenue displayed such blatant disregard for the rights of our honest, law-abiding citizens. it is never ok to disregard our most basic privacy rights. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today.

>> we are covering this event live on our companion network c-span3 right now. all the living u.s. presidents are there. jimmy carter, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, george w. bush, and barack obama expected to speak along with laura bush and former secretary of state condo lisa rice. -- condoleezza rice. on c-span3. live now to capitol hill for remarks from house majority leader nancy pelosi, she's holding her weekly briefing. it started three minutes ago. >> this bill had commend the four co-sponsors, two in the

senate, and two in the house, representatives king and thompson, for threading the needle exactly just right for what gets the job done, which honors first -- the second amendment, but protects the american people. so we call upon our -- speaker to give us a vote. give us a vote on this legislation. pleased to take any questions you may have. >> what role have you played in the talks to possibly exempt congress from the health care changes? do you know thinking about them? we know that reid and hoyer have been involved. do you think that's a good idea? >> i think what we -- i support the affordable care act. i think that what we -- that the federal employee health benefit plan could be a plan under -- of

the exchanges, and i am in close contactith mr. hoyer as he is in any of those conversations. >> is that at all hypocritical? >> i think that the reading, you have to read this carefully, reading the legislation carefully as to what it calls for and what an exchange is and how the federal employee health benefit plan is compatible plan under the exchange, we just have to look at all of that. one thing is for sure. i don't know what the motivation was in writing that piece to treat some is members of congress and some employees differently. you work for a committee or leadership you are treated differently. if you work for a member's office. i think that whatever the outcome is, people have to be treated the same.

>> mr. goodlatte said his panel is going to move order on immigration in a piecemeal. would democrats support the immigration bill -- >> i can only speak for myself i can tell you overwhelmingly in our caucus the pass the legalization and ultimately citizenship is is an important part of our principle. secure our borders. protect our workers. unite families. family unification. and a path to citizenship as well as, again, the visas that h -1. -b, the stakeholder between business and labor, farm workerers and growers. those stakeholders have worked out agreements that are part of the bill, and i think it's a very, very good bill. i don't think we want america to be a place where we have two

kinds of people in our country. we always make comments of other countries that have workers come in and they are in a different category no matter how long they lived in the country, no matter how much they contribute to the economic success of that country. but i don't see house democrats supporting a bill of that kind. but i'm optimistic that the senate passes -- when the senate passes their bill, that there's strong bipartisan support in the house for a path to legalization and hence citizenship. >> in terms of the --2010 the health care issue, are you worried the way republicans are spinning this right now is that democrats in congress won't even subject their own employees to their health care law. does that have ramifications -- >> that won't be happening. the bill has been written. it's a question of

interpretation. and we want everybody to be treated the same. i do not subscribe to the notion that we did not win the election because of the health care bill. if we did for tens of millions of americans to have health care was well worth any of our political careers in my view. >> about the house intelligence briefing, did the suspect stop talking after being read his rights? are you concerned that valuable intel might have been lost because of that? >> as you probably are aware i wouldn't be able to convey to you what happened in an intel briefing. so i have confidence in the -- our law enforcement and our intelligence leadership at work on this. we have to fully investigate it and we'll find out at the end of the day who said what, , when whether it's in the investigation or before. i would not be at liberty to tell you what happened in the

room. >> you spoke about the sequester and your hope to replace it. i'm told one effort might be to try to lessen or diminish the impact of these in the f.a.a. -- something the senate might try to do. what route do you see for this? >> what are you suggesting? >> i have been told that they might try to do some amendments that will make the f.a.a. handle the furloughs differently or potentially give them a little more flexibility so we don't have these delays at the airport. >> is it money coming out of the sequestration money? or is it going to another source? >> that's unclear at this point. >> how can i answer the question? >> how would you address it? is >> first of all, the answer to all of your questions, whatever they may be, is to go to the conference table.

i saw where somebody said the sequestration is not hurting safety. well, two things on that score, yes. we are not going to harm safety. but it does have an impact on effectiveness and efficiency and moving the american people from one place to the next. so if you are suggesting that there should be f.a.a. money within f.a.a., within the sequester, then you may start affecting safety. if it's where is the money going to come from to cover what the shortfall that the sequestration has caused in one part of it, the towers and the rest of that, then other suggestion is to take money from other accounts of the transportation department, i find that less onerous than within sequestration. but you know what? we are just fooling ourselves if we think that we are doing any -- that the american people any

favor by not finding a real solution, a real solution is to go to the table and to have a reconciliation of the budget. let the american people see and compare whose budget is one that they would identify as reflecting their values as job creating, deficit reducing, and something that takes us into the future. that's what the republicans fear. they fear the scrutiny on their budget. it's based on false numbers. we know that now. it's based on a premise that says if your deficit goes to x percentage of the g.d.p., then you have to cut. well, no. that's how we got to the high deficit in relationship to g.d.p. it's exactly turned upside-down. i think that the clear analysis of the premise on which they built this budget shows that if

you want to reduce the deficit, cutting investments in education and public sector investments that create jobs, inject demand into the economy, again, creating jobs, more jobs, snen that would be the path to grow. -- then that would be the path to grow. that's why we come to congress. we have our differences of opinion. usually we can reconcile them, but you have to be at the table to do that. unless you fear the public awareness of what you are proposing. and what is being proposed is mething that is anti-growth, anti-growth, anti-growth with jobs. and that's the standard that the american people want any budget to meet. growth with jobs as we reduce the deficit. >> when you see republican stretch a helium bill that could be taken under u.c. for two days and you pull a bill like they

did yesterday frantically. as somebody who has been in boehner's position. what's your reaction? thoughts about those series of events. >> what do you think about it? don't you think it's ridiculous? the fact is is that there is a use of the time of congress. there is a use of opportunity to find a solution for the american people. the helium bill is a fine bill. it should never have been anything proposed earlier on to necessitate this bill. but the bill is there. it's overwhelming support. it could have passed by u.c. on the floor or put up on suspension that they are dragging this out is a waste of the taxpayer dollar. a waste of the time on the floor of the house. it is an opportunity cost for bringing other legislation to the floor that will take us to make progress. to take us forward. and it is -- it's just to fill time so they say we have x

number of days of legislation, congress was in. it's almost a frivolous use of the congressional schedule. >> could i ask you about the health care law, health care bill that came up yesterday. the club for growth and heritage action made it a scored no vote. it seems like that's happened with several other priority bills for the leadership and then they went away or they failed or they had to pass it with democratic support. how important do you think these groups are in shaping what's happening on the floor? >> first of all let me say that this bill that you talk about that was on the floor yesterday, was taking money from the prevention fund and put it into the high-risk pool. giving the illusion of doing something for people. false. wrong. not right. it's similar to its cousin

coming down the road in a couple of weeks which is the comp time ault on ch is really a f working families, while making it look like they have some say in whether they have comp time or overtime. and it's an assault on overtime. again it's their softer side which is really a facade that isn't real, it doesn't help people, but they want to give the impression that they do. while just putting it right in the category of all the things they do, we want tax cuts for the rich, but we don't want to raise the minimum wage. we want fiscal responsibility, and we probably should be cutting food stamps and all the rest of that, don't dare let us raise the minimum wage which would eliminate the necessity of people to have to put food on their table by having food stamps. it's really -- i wonder, i wonder what working people ever did to the republicans that they

have an it out for them. no increase in the minimum wage. almost insulting them for relying on any public support which is necessitated by not having a livable wage in our country. and which they oppose. this was something that was an illusion that even the republicans saw through. this is a fake, as is this comp time bill a fake when it comes down the pike. but judge it by the company it keeps. no increase in minimum wage which the president is talking, putting forth. and let's take care of the budget deficit but not by everybody paying their fair share. but by mocking people who rely on assistance. that's what i think of it. i'll see you those of you coming by. thank you.

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] >> live pictures once again from dallas, texas, on the campus of southern methodist university. it is the opening ceremony for the george w. busch presidential library today. the library opens to the bub lick on may 1. during today's ceremony all the living u.s. presidents, jimmy carter, george h.w. bush, bill clinton, george w. bush, and barack obama will be speaking along with laura bush and former secretary of state condoleezza rice. ceremony got under way about 20 minutes or so ago. we are keag it in its entirety live on our companion network, c-span3. earlier today house judiciary committee chair, bob goodlatte,

and immigration and border subcommittee chair mr. gowdy held a hearing. they'll get started on immigration legislation. it's now waiting for the senate to complete work on its own immigration bill. the house committee's legislation will deal with guest worker programs and employer verification of immigration status. this conference is about a half-hour. >> everyone among us can go back a few generations or several generations to find relatives of our own who came to america to search for a better life for themselves and their families. we are also a nation of laws. it is important that any immigration reform bill honor both our history as a nation of immigrants and our respect for the rule of law. unfortunately our immigration system today is broken, past legislative efforts have failed and today we have 11 million people living in the shadows. this issue is not about abstract statistics and concepts, but rather about people with real problems trying to provide a

better life for their families. while we all agree we need to fix our immigration laws, we have -- there are many ideas about how to get to a solution. regardless of one's position on the larger debate, the way forward is for congress to pass immigration reform through regular order. in addition, we need to take a closer look at immigration reform in order to avoid making the same mistakes of the past again in the future. by now we are all aware of the failures of the 1986 immigration overhaul. while politicians assured the american people that it would fix our immigration system, promising tougher enforcement in exchange for the legalization of roughly three million people, it has created more problems than it fixed. the american people want to know how congress plans to avoid this similar outcome in the current debate surrounding immigration reform. the house judiciary committee intends to examine immigration reform in a step by step approach.

we welcome the ideas of all the members of the house. we have been reaching out to those members with briefing and educational meeting sessions. i think now close to 100 house republicans have participated in those briefings where we take them through what legal immigration is, what the law is, what the challenges are with regard to enforcement of our immigration laws, and we take them through a discussion of the different ways to address the needs of the country as a whole and the fact that we have 11 million or more people who are unlawfully present in the country. we are at this point in the process not drawing any conclusions about the best solutions to move forward. we are very interested in what the senate gang of eight has

written, and are watching the senate process closely, and while we have many concerns about aspects of the senate bills, at this point we believe that the appropriate thing to do is for the house to begin this process. so starting this week we will be introducing individual pieces of the overall immigration puzzle. we are also very interested in what the house gang of eight produces. they have been working on this process for a long, long time, and we are very hopeful that they can reach a bipartisan agreement on what will be done to address the three major aspects of immigration reform. legal immigration reform, enforcement, and what to do about the legal status of the 11 million or more people who are not here lawfully. once we see what the house group

produces, we will also be focusing in the committee on that and we'll be looking at how the individual bills that we are going to start introducing this week, and we'll have a number of other individual bills as we move forward in coming weeks. how those work with what the gang of eight produces, and see what the will of the house judiciary committee is. we look forward to this process, but we are going to take a positive, affirmative action at addressing broken immigration system in this country. it is in bad need of reform, and the committee intends to examine all of the various aspects of that. this process can be long, but it allows every representative and senator to have their constituents' voices heard. by taking a fine-tooth comb through each of the individual issues within the larger

immigration debate, it will help us get a better bill that will benefit americans and provide a workable immigration system. members of the house judiciary committee will soon introduce a series of stand alone bills that tackle various issues within our immigrationies tell, one that creates a new temporary agriculture guest worker program. another requiring all u.s. employers to use e-verify will be introduced this week. and we will follow with a number of other issues in coming weeks. following regular order, the house judiciary committee plans to hold legislative hearings on these bills soon so that members can ask questions of the legislation and look for ways to improve them. i want to especially emphasize that that is what we have decided and agreed to do at this point. we have made no decisions about how to proceed forward in terms of a legislative markup, whether it would pertain to individual bills or whether it would pertain to a larger bill, but at this point in time we think we

can help move the process forward by beginning to examine the legislative details of various ideas that members have brought forward. it's important to note that this is only the beginning of the process and we welcome comments from all interested parties. other bills will be introduced soon and we will have hearings on the legislative language on those, again, to allow members to carefully vet them. immigration reform is not an easy task. but a solution is not out of reach. we must make sure we get immigration reform right this time so that we don't have the same problems in the future that we have had with past immigration reform bills like the one passed in 1986 or immigration reform efforts like the one that failed in the senate in 2007 because it was driven from the top down and not brought from the grassroots. the house of representatives is the people's house, the house of representatives is where each member of the house listens to their constituents, brings their ideas forward, and then in a

good legislative process works together to find common, acceptable solutions. there is absolutely no doubt that the ultimate solutions to this process will have to be bipartisan and will have to address a number of different issues. no one should take the limited bills that we are introducing here this week to be in any way an indication of our overall interest in solving all of the various aspects of immigration reform that are before the house and senate. thank you. i now want to yield to the chairman of the subcommittee, trey gowdy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i am not going to belabor the points made by chairman goodlatte except to say this. the result and process to me at least are intertwined. the best result or product in the world is sometimes mitigated by a process that is less than

confidence inspiring. that's true in the civil justice system. that's true in the criminal justice system. and it's true in the legislative system. even ideas that enjoy broad support need to be examined in the public square. it's more time consuming. it can be argued that it is more fraught with peril, but for those of us that are interested in a remedy that will sustain us for a lifetime, i'm convinced that the extra time spent examining all aspects and subjecting them to cross-examination, if you will, will be well worth it. with that, mr. chairman, thank you for letting me be a small part of this process. i yield back to the gentleman from virginia. >> thank you. i would be happy to take questions from members of the media. >> so many form of legalization? >> we are not to that point yet.

but obviously if we talk about addressing the three aspects of immigration, you have to get to that point. so we are looking with interest to see what the senate is doing with that. we are interested in if what house members are negotiating in bipartisan fashion do with that. we have some of our own ideas about that as well. but we are in no way able to tell you how that will unfold at his point. >> is there an expectation you will mark up and produce a bill or several bills this year? >> it is our hope that we will be able to accomplish that. at this point in time -- >> we'll leave this briefing at this point. can you see it in its entirety in the c-span video library at c-span.org. we'll go live now to dallas, texas, to southern methodist university for the opening ceremony of the george w. bush

presidential lie brarery. all five living presidents are speaking. here's former president jimmy carter. >> four of us have already made that goal and one is still working on it, but it is a wonderful thing to be with the other presidents and to have a chance to address this wonderful audience. i'll be very brief and i'll be limiting my comments just to say that i know personally that have been important for me and for george w. bush. in 2000 as some of you may remember there was a disputed election for several weeks and finally when president bush became president they had the inauguration in washington on schedule and i think my wife and i were the only two volunteer democrats on the platform. and george and laura afterwards came up and thanked us for coming. and so i -- he said if there is anything i could ever do for you, let me know. which was a mistake he made. i said, mr. president, the

program has 35 countries in the world and the worse problem now is war going on between north and south sudan. and millions of people have been killed. and i'd like for you to help us have a peace agreement there. and a weak moment he said i'll do t when can i meet your secretary is of state and national security advisor? he said i haven't even chosen them yet. but give us three weeks. so three weeks later i came up and met colin powell and condoleezza rice and president bush kept his promise. he appointed our distinguished senator from missouri, john dan ford, and the great general from kenya, and january of 2005, there was a peace treaty between north and south sudan that ended a war that had been going for 21 years. george w. bush is responsible for that. [applause]

that was the first of his great contributions to the countries in africa. as has already been mentioned briefly here, he increased his development assistance to africa from the time he went in office until he left, from $1.4 billion to more than $9 billion. that's an increase of 640%. that is development assistance. [applause] >> he established a pepfar program, there were 50,000 h.i.v. sufferers in africa being treated when he came in office. when he left office, two million. i'll let you figure the percentage on that. now this new institute he has a program and women from cervical and breast cancer from sub-saharan africa, that's something dear to my heart and i know it means a lot to millions of people in africa. mr. president, let me say that i'm filled with admiration for you and deep gratitude for you

about the great contributions you have made to the most needy people on earth. thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, resident george h.w. bush. [applause] >> thank you very much. a beautiful day in dallas. it's a great pleasure to be here. and honor our son, our oldest son, and this is very special for barbara and me. and thank you-all for coming. and to those who made this

marvelous museum possible, we thank you especially and we are glad to be here. god bless america and thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, resident bill clinton.

>> thank you very much, president and mrs. bush, and president and mrs. obama, president and mrs. carter. . l the representatives here the other previous presidents, ford, nixon, johnson families. i told president obama that this was the latest, grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history. and i want to take my hat off to president bush, this is a beautiful library. the exhibits are great. the work of the bush institute is inspiring.

and i congratulate him on the platinum liege writing for his library. i this is the second building in the entire federal system that has it. and i want to say, mr. president, once again you got the better of me twice in the ast few weeks. my library has a platinum liege writing but it was opened a few years before we could afford to achieve it. and you beat me to being a grandfather. i congratulate you and laura for it. [applause] >> starting with my work with president george h.w. bush on the tsunami and the aftermath of katrina, people began to joke i was getting so close to the bush family i had become the black sheep son. my mother told me not to talk

too long today. and barbara, i will not let you own. there is one other connection i have that i think is largely unknown which is that a couple of times a year in his second term george bush would call me just to talk politics. and a chill went up and down my spine when laura said that all their records were digitized. dear god i hope there is no record of those conversations in this vast and beautiful uilding. i want to say, as president carter did, i was impressed that president bush invites us to make different decisions if we choose on the decisions he was

facing. it's one of the most interesting things about this library. i want to talk about a couple of other things that are beyond controversy. first, i want to thank president bush for passing pepfar. no president of my party could have passed that through the ongress, and i worked all over africa with our health initiatives and tuberculosis, malaria, i have personally seen the faces of some of the millions of people who are alive today because of it. [applause] i want to thank president obama for continuing it and increasing it. want to thank you ainge lawyera for continuing -- and laura for continuing your work in global health. i want to thank you for your efforts when president to reform

our immigration system and keep america a nation of immigrants, and i hope the congress will follow president obama's efforts to follow the example you set. i thank you for that. [applause] i want to thank you for the work we did together in the aftermath of haiti, the poorest country in our hemisphere. we have closed our fund. i believe in working yourself out of a job. but we helped a lot of people start businesses which are now thriving, and we gave the country their first home mortgage system it ever had. i thank you for that, mr. president. [applause] i probably shouldn't say this but i'm going to anyway. your mother showed me some of your landscapes, and animal paintings, and i thought they were great. really great. and i seriously considered calling you and asking you to do

a portrait of me until i saw the emails.of your sister's those sketches were wonderful, but at my age, i think i should keep my suit. alike president bush p. we do lot of speeches together. i like him when we have disagreements. he's disarmingly direct. we were having an argument over health care one of these speeches and i went on about the german health care system. he said i don't know a thing about the german health care system. i think he probably won the argument. we are here to celebrate a country we all love. service we all rendered. and debate a difference is an important part of every free society. by asking us to join him in the

decisions he made and inviting us to make different ones if we choose, he has honored that deepest american tradition. for all of these things as an american citizen i am very grateful. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the resident of the united states. >> thank you so much. thank you. thank you. please be seated. to president and mrs. bush, to president clinton and now former secretary clinton, to president george h.w. bush and mrs. bush,

to president and mrs. carter, to current and former world leaders and all the distinguished guests here today, michelle and i are honored to be with you to mark this hoist torque occasion. -- to mark this historic occasion. this is a texas size party and it's worthy of what we are here to do today, honor the life and legacy of the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. when all the living former presidents are together, it's also a special day for our democracy. we have been called the world's most exclusive club and we do have a pretty nice clubhouse, but the truth is our club's more like a support group. the last time we all got together was just before i took office and i needed that because as each of these leaders will tell you, no matter how much you

may think you are ready to assume the office of the president, it's impossible to truly understand the nature of the job until it's yours. until you are signature at that desk. that's why every president gains a greater appreciation for all of those who served before them. for the leaders from both parties who have taken on the momentous challenges and felt the enormous weight of the nation on their shoulders. and for me that appreciate very much extends to president bush. -- that appreciation very much extends to president bush. the first thing i found in that desk the day i took office was a letter from george and one that demonstrated his compassion and his generosity. for he knew that i would come to learn what he had learned, that being president above all is a humbling job. there are moments where you make mistakes. there are times where you wish you could turn back the clock.

and when -- what i know is true about president bush and i hope my successor will say about me, is that we love this country and we do our best. now, in the past president bush has said it's impossible to pass judgment on his presidency while he's still alive, so maybe this is a little bit premature, but even now there are certain things we know for certain. we know about the son who was raised by two strong loving parents in midland, famously inheriting, as he says, my daddy's eyes and my mother's mouth. the young boy who once came home after a trip to museum and proudly presented his horrified mother with a small dinosaur tailbone he had smuggled home in his pocket. i'll bet that went over great with barbara. we know about the young man who met the love of his life at a

dinner party, ditching his plans to go to bed early and instead talking with the brilliant and charming laura welsh late into the night. we know about the father who raised two remarkable, caring, beautiful daughters, even after they tried to discourage him from running for president saying, dad, you're not as cool as you think you are. mr. president, i can relate. and now we see president bush, the grandfather, just beginning to spoil his brand new granddaughter. so we know president bush the man and what president clinton said is absolutely true. to know the man is to like the man. because he's comfortable in his own skin. he knows who he is. he doesn't put on any pretenses. he takes his job seriously, but he doesn't take himself too seriously. he is a good man.

but we also know something about george bush the leader. as we walkthrough this library obviously we are reminded of the incredible strength and resolve that came through that bullhorn as he stood amid the rubble and ruins of ground zero promising to deliver justice to those who sought to destroy our way of life. we remember the compassion that he showed by leading the global fight against hiv-aids and malaria. helping to save millions of lives and reminingeding people in some of the poorest corners of the globe that america cares and we are here to help. we remember his commitment to reaching across the aisle to unlikely allies like ted kennedy because he believed that we had to reform our schools in ways that helped every child learn, not just some.

we have to repair a broken immigration system, and that this progress is only possible when we do it together. seven years ago president bush restarted an important conversation by speaking with the american people about our history as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and even though comprehensive immigration reform has taken a little longer than any of us expected, i am hopeful that this year with the help of speaker boehner and some of the senators and members of the congress who are here today that we bring it home for our families and our economy and our security and for this incredible country that we love and if we do that, it will be in large part thanks to the hard work of president george w. bush. [applause] finally, a president bears no

great decision or solemn version than serving as commander in chief of the greatest military the world has ever known. president bush himself has said, america must and will keep its word to the men and women who have given us so much. so even as we americans may at times disagree on matters of foreign policy, we share a profound respect and reverence for the men and women in the military and their families and we are united in our determination to comfort the families of the fallen and to care for those who wear the uniform of the united states. [applause] on the flight back from russia after negotiating with crew she at the height of the cold war, president kennedy's secretary found a small slip of paper on which the president had written a favorite saying, i know there is a god, and i see a storm

coming, if he has place for me, i believe i am ready. no one can be completely ready for this office, but america needs leaders who are willing to face the storm head on, even as they pray for god's strength and wisdom so that they can do what they believe is right. that's what the leaders with whom i share this stage have all done. that's what president george w. bush chose to do. that's why i'm honored to be part of today's celebration. mr. president, for your service, for your courage, for your sense of humor, and most of all for your love of country, thank you very much. from all the citizens of the united states of america, god bless you, and god bless these united states.

♪ >> ♪ my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the lord he has trampling

out the vengeance where the grapes of wrath are stored he has loosed the faithful lightning of his terrible swiss sword his truth is marching on glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah his truth is marching on

♪ glory goresry hallelujah glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah

his truth is marching on ♪ in the beauty of the living christ was born across the sea with a glory

as is he dies to make men holy let us die to make men free while god is marching on glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah his truth is marching on glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah glory glory hallelujah

his truth is marching on amen men ♪ [applause] >> we will leave this ceremony at this point. the u.s. house is about to gavel in at noon eastern. about five minutes from now. you can see the rest of the dedication ceremony live by wait on our companion network, c-span3. it's also available on c-span radio and online at c-span.org. we'll reair the ceremony tonight here on c-span starting at 8:00 eastern. the house coming in in about five minutes. today the george w. bush library turned over to the national archives which operates all the presidential libraries. before today's opening we spoke

with alan low the director of the george w. bush presidential library and museum. >> alan low is the director of the bush presidential library and museum. >> oversee all the operations of the lie brarery new see. it's been fantastic the last four years helping desinet building, museum, hiring a wonderful staff, all the archives and artifacts. now we are getting ready to open operations of the museum, research room, and offer educational public programs. a lot of responsibilities. >> later this month you'll take this over formally. explain what that means. >> up to this point been working with our private bush foundation as a -- i worked to desinet building, construct this beautiful facility. our staff members are here now. but on april 25 on dedication day this build something officially given over to the national archives to run as a presidential library and museum. >> when historians come here, what will they take away? what will they learn?

what's available to them? how does it all come together? >> it's a very rich archives here. we have around 70 million pages of paper records from the bush white house. on top of that we have about 80 tear bites of electronic information, including over 100 million emails, which totals about a billion pages if you were to print them. we have 42,000 artifacts and a vast range of audio visual materials. over time they are processed and made available to researchers. >> how do you sort through all of that? >> first of all you have a great processing plan, what should we process first? where should priorities be? what can we open early on? that type of thing. working with our staff here, working with our colleagues in washington, working with the president and his office, kind of setting those priorities and starting to nibble away at this vast amount of information we have. >> you are no stranger to this. you have done a couple other presidential libraries. what do you take away from your

work at the roosevelt library, reagan library, how do you apply that? >> when i started at the reagan library many years ago, i didn't know what presidential libraries were. i learned quickly. i wanted to apply those lessons as i went up the ladder in washington. i was at the central office for a while and our job was to oversee and to advocate forhe libraries around the country. it taught me what worked and sometimes what didn't within the system. i tried to apply those lessons here in terms of how we go with the archives. what kind of programming we do. how we think about museum operations. all those types of things. particularly how we think about partnerships as well. those are important to us. >> what works, what doesn't work? >> the biggest thing i think that works is first of all getting a great staff. secondly, establishing those partnerships. making sure that your partnership with the foundation is excellent. that you find good community partners to work with. here we have southern methodist university, a fantastic partner. those are things that work and i

want to apply here and make the bush library the best there is. >> can students come here? is this opened to the general public? how can people access the information. >> it will be on may 1. we'll open the museum on that day. we'll also open the research room. some number of records will be opened on may 1. in january of 2014, all the records can be requested through the freedom of information act. we want to open some of the materials early. so when we open this building we also open the research room and have some materials opened at that point on may 1. >> as the president has pointed out he is the first true internet presidency, full eight years use of emailed and access to websites. how does that change the dynamics in trying to research and archive and collect all the material from those eight years? >> it's a major change. thankfully the national archives thought about this and created what's called the electronic records archive. a vast amount of electronic information from the bush white house was ingested into that system at the end of the administration.

it's now our job to go through it to process it. it's a vast amount of information. as i said 80 terrabytes or so. the quantity of emails alone equals mother than any other presidential library combined across the country. you have a challenge in terms of quantity for processing. >> we'll leave this interview at this point to go live now to the u.s. house where debate on bipartisan legislation selling the nation's helium reserves to cover its operating costs. now live coverage of the u.s. house. chaplain conroy: let us pray. eternal god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. lead us this day in your ways that our nation might be guided along the roads of peace, justice and goodwill. grant strength and wisdom to our speaker and the members of both the people's house and the senate, to our president and

his cabinet and to our supreme court. bless as well the moral and military leaders of our country and may those who are the captains of business, industry and unions learn to work together toward the mutual benefit of all. grant us the courage to develop a sound energy program for the good of all, bestow on the members of congress the perseverance to provide a framework that protects the rights and concerns of all americans, in the wake of terrible violence in our land. and the wisdom to forge a fair and equitable immigration reform, that together we might look ahead to ever greater goals for the continued growth of our nation. may all that is done within the people's house be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the

journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from california, ms. brownly. ms. brownley: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and .ustice for all the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain up to 15 requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? mr. kline: i would ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kline: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today on behalf of the minnesotans i serve who tell me simply, it's about time. i rise today on behalf of the

south st. paul mom and dad who find it difficult to balance work and family and feel they are not spending enough time with their children. i rise today on behalf of the minnesota national guard and all our brave men and women in uniform who are deployed while their spouses single-handedly juggle work and household responsibilities. i rise today on behalf of a college student and millions like her working full time while pursuing an undergraduate degree. and i rise today on behalf of an egan couple, who like more than 50 million working americans, spend at least eight hours a week providing care for aging relatives. a challenge when balancing the demands of a job. mr. speaker, outdated federal policy denies many workers the chance to spend more time with their children or care for an aging relative. accordingly, the education work force committee approved legislation last week that will fix this outdated policy and help more americans balance family and work.

mr. speaker, americans sacrifice a great deal to provide for their families and i agree with my minnesota constituents and most americans, it is about time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, i was alarmed to discover that the department of homeland security's budget request proposed a study of the imto sogs -- impsition of a fiat task for passengers and pedestrians at our northerner land border crossings. western new york is home to two rail and three vehicle crossings, including the peace bridge, the second busiest northern border crossing. integrating the economies of western new york and southern ontario is essential to our economic strength and nationally 300,000 people cross our canadian border by vehicle each day and spend an estimated $235 million. last year the american canadian government -- american-canadian government signed a historic

agreement to bolster cross-border travel. the imposition of a border toll will discourage cross-border travel and goes against the spirit of this historic agreement. mr. speaker, we should be encouraging increased economic activity between the united states and canada, not stifling it. this proposal is completely unacceptable and must be withdrawn immediately. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. for many young people, higher education has become a very expensive dream because of rising costs. the average new graduate is struggling to pay off more than $25,000 in dead while hunting for a job in this stagnant economy. while washington can play a role in fixing the problem, we cannot look to the federal government alone to fix this problem. mr. walberg: instead, we must work with state governments, schools, students, parents, to find a solution.

within the past decade, costs have risen 66% beyond the rate of inflation. instead of trying to work with schools, the federal government has been busy implementing policies that increase their costs. my colleagues and i on the higher education and work force training subcommittee are looking at how to simplify and strengthen federal aid programs. it's obvious, more needs to be done to help students and families make the best decision possible about their education. at a price they can afford. my goal is to continue to identify and remove unnecessary and costly burdens from this process. and put the dream of higher education in reach of more students. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont seek recognition? mr. welch: to address the house, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. welch: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, climate change in my view is real, it's urgent and we must make progress or

ignore it at our peril. but whether we agree or disagree, whether you're a climate change believer or denier, there are things that we can do together for the benefit of the environment and the economy. we can focus the debate on energy efficiency. we can save money through making our homes and buildings more energy efficient. we can put people back to work and buy american products. and in the process, we can cut down on harmful carbon emissions and make progress on climate change and strengthen our economy. that's why i've joined with my friend from west virginia, david mckinley, in introducing energy savings and industrial competitiveness act which proposes practical solutions to bolster energy efficiency. this bill will speed our transition to a more energy-efficient economy, increasing america's economic competitiveness and energy security and build jobs. by finding areas where we actually do agree and working together we can make progress

on the environment and on the economy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from kansas seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. jenkins: whether it's jobs or our nation's debt, the economy is still the number one issue for hardworking americans. but instead of supporting initiatives like the keystone pipeline, something that would create 20,000 jobs and help secure our energy supply, this administration continues to pursue the same failed economic policies. their budget adds over $8 trillion to the debt, raises taxes by another $1 trillion, and they continue to support a burdensome health care law that does nothing to address the issue of rising costs. the house is working on solutions to create a stronger, healthier economy, with more jobs and opportunities for all americans. we have passed legislation to

replace the sequester, to balance the budget, to repeal the president's health care law and we're working on reforming our broken tax code to make it more fair and efficient. it's time for the administration to get onboard, stop creating problems like politically motivated flight delays, and start helping make life easier for american families. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> tom the labor council will be hosting their annual unionist of the year awards dinner where local labor leaders will be recognized for their tireless advocacy on behalf of hardworking americans. one of these great leaders is someone who will be honored with the unionist of the year award. a member of the

plumbers and steel fitters local 342 for 30 years. he's also on the board of directors for recycling, a company which gives many former offenders and at-risk youth a chance at life. this organization proudly serves both hayward and union city in my district. mr. swalwell: also honored by california's attorney general, a native who also, like me, served in the county district attorney's office, will be honored as the warrior woman of the year. attorney general harris is committed to defending the interests of working families who are the backbone of our economy. other honorees include rachel ian, tania pitts, bud beal and christine garrett. once again, congratulations to all honorees. our county appreciates your efforts to ensure that worker rights and benefits are always protected. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina eek recognition? the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today with a heavy

heart. to honor a military hero in one of my constituents -- it and one of my constituents and a casualty of war. private first class barrett l. austin died on april 21 after being a casualty, i believe, of an i.e.d. while serving his country in afghanistan. mr. duncan: barrett austin was just 20 years old. he was assigned to a company fourth brigade special troops battalion, third infantry division out of fort stewart, georgia. he was a beloved son, husband, friend and soldier from the pickens county area of south carolina. my heart goes out to his wife, his parents, all of those who called barrett a friend. this true american hero has made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our great nation and we owe him our eternal gratitude. this nation remains the greatest on earth because of people like barrett austin and we must never forget the true cost of the freedoms that we

enjoy. so on behalf of the third district of south carolina and the entire nation, we thank you, barrett, for your sacrifice and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the entire austin family. may god bless them and may god continue to bless america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from washington seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognizesed for one minute. -- the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. mr. delahunt: mr. speaker, i -- ms. delbene: mr. speaker, i rise today on special crops. special crops such as fruits and vegetables are a significant part of agriculture with annual production valued at over $50 billion. this is about half of the value of all u.s. crops, but specialty crops aren't given the same attention or financial support as our traditional commodities. specialty crops are a major

source of economic activity, jobs and our nation's food supply. every state has at least some specialty crop production and my district is no different. hundreds of specialty crops are grown, totaling millions of sales each year. specialty crops grown on farms provide fresh, quality foods to our schools, restaurants and farmers markets. as congress begins to consider another farm bill, it's important to acknowledge how vital specialty crops are to our country. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution and i look forward to continuing to work together to ensure that programs in support of specialty crops are highlighted and fully funded. i yield back the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize

national autism awane month. we once lived in a world where polio was an epidemic that killed kids and left others with debilitating paralysis. thankfully medical and scientific advances largely have eliminated the threat from this and many other dreaded diseases and conditions. yet our understanding of as you tism remains -- autism remains an unsolved puzzle. mr. messer: mr. speaker, autism affects too many children, including my nephew, trey, and strange families, as i -- and strains families, as i know firsthand. it's time to commit ourselves as a nation to solving this modern epidemic. so autism can be prevented, treated and cured tomorrow like polio is today. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek

recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in honor of sean smith, an information technology specialist killed in the september 11, 2012, terrorist attack in benghazi, libya. sean was called one of our best at the state department by former secretary of state hillary clinton. originally from san diego, california, sean enlisted in the air force in 1995. mr. vargas: in 2002 he was awarded the air force commendation medal and joined the united states foreign service. president obama stated, sean smith lived to serve, first in the air force, then at the state department. he knew the perils of his calling and there at benghazi, far from home, he laid down his life in the service to all of us. sean was also a loving husband

and a proud father. he was devoted to his wife, heather, and to his two children, samantha and nathan. mrs. smith said of her late husband, sean supported the mission of diplomacy and served his country with pride and optimism. i wish to offer my deepest condolences and the deepest condolences of this house to the smith family, please know that your family will continue to be in our prayers and our thoughts and thank you and your late husband for yourselfless service to our country and may god bless you. mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for one minute. mr. pocan: i rise today to give the american people some of the -- some truth telling about what's going on with the f.a.a. and flight delays. we have been told this is the result of the sequester, yet in 2001 there were about 30,000 takeoffs per day in the united states, and they did that with

about $6 billion worth of funding. today takeoffs are only 20,000 a day, and they have $10 billion of funding. in 2001 there were 14,000 air traffic operators, and today there is 14,000 air traffic operators. if it's not a demand problem because demand went down. if it's not a people problem because they had the same people. and it's not a resource problem because they have about 14u7bd% more money, what is the problem? i contend to you, mr. speaker, it's a political problem. it's time to tell the administration to stop playing politics with the american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, last week was a profoundly disturbing week for those of us from connecticut and for americans as a hole. mr. himes: when this body, when the institution of congress failed to do anything to promote gun safety in the face of the tragedy at newtown, this

institution let the american people down. when a senator on the republican side with an a-rating from the n.r.a. and a senator from the democratic side with an a-rating from the n.r.a. put forward a background check measure that fails, we fail. we can and should debate what kind of weapons americans should have a right to. we can and should gate how many bullets go into a magazine. there is no principled argument for why we should not check out someone who wants to buy weapons. yet we couldn't make that argument in the congress of the united states. so as a result, sometime soon a terrorist will buy a gun at a gun show. sometime soon a gun will be bought on line. as a result americans will die. and this institution will bear the blame. this was not a proud moment, mr. speaker, for the congress of the united states. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina eek recognition?

the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today on behalf of the child protection act. just a year ago young 3-year-old girl was rammed against the wall headfirst suffering irreparable brain damage and being paralyzed for the rest of her life. when the d.a. went to prosecute, he found in north carolina that the sentencing was limited to four to seven years. a very minimum sentence for such an eniegeous act. on further review, we found that other studies, some no minimum whatsoever. mr. pit enger: our act would he provide there would be a -- sentence of 10 years. we commend this legislation to the respected body and ask for their support. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition? mill jackson lee: ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute.

ms. jackson lee: i thank the distinguished gentleman. the simple question is asked, why we are in such a dilemma of complexity and absolutely abandoning the american people. that's what sequestration is all about. i know it's hard to tell a story again, but sequestration came about because a whole size of a population of members, republican members, did not want to pay america's bills. but we can as a bipartisan collective body that responds to america to avoid the loss of two million jobs and a .6% drag n the economy and 67.8 million loss for primary and secondary education in texas, 4,800 head start seats lost, we can come together. we can pass h.r. 900 which gets rid of the sequestration, or we can call for the budget conferees to once and for all address the question of

america. the reason why we have a slowdown of f.a.a.? is because of people are furloughed. you can have 50,000 air traffic controllers, but if they are furloughed they can't work. let's work on behalf of the american people. have the budget conferees now. pass h.r. 900. get rid of the sequestration. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. smith: mr. speaker, the senate immigration bill provides cover for suspected terrorists and others who would do us harm. after six months it legalizes millions of people in the country illegally. they can then get work permits, social security cards, and driver's licenses. this gives them a legitimate cover to travel and plot attacks. mass legalization will encourage others to enter the country illegally so they, too, can obtain covered documents. any immigration bill should put the safety of americans first.

we should go slow before giving amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants long before we have secure borders. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for ne minute. ms. chu: 24 years, a quarter century, imagine not being able to see your brother or sister for 24 years. that's how long our sibling visa backlogs can be right now in our broken immigration system. the senate immigration bill does many good things to fix this broken system and reduces the backlog of family visas. this means that all those families have been waiting for so many years can finally be reunited. but for the future it gets rid of the sibling category entirely. what this means is that if someone immigrates here, becomes a citizen, she can

petition for her parents to come in short order, but because this bill gets rid of the sibling category, the 22-year-old brother with down's syndrome would have to be left behind to be all by himself. that's not right. fixing our broken immigration system is so important, but let's make sure that immediate family members can be reunited. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to raise awareness about the grave atrocities committed by kermit gosnell against innocent lives at his philadelphia abortion clinic. witnesses called the clinic a house of horrors. and describe a procedure known as snipping in which the back of babies' next are cut with scissors to, quote, ensure fetal demise, end quote.

abortion clinics across our nation take the lives of 1.2 million babies every year. this is murder and it must be stopped. we have the responsibility to protect the unborn as well as the sanctity of all innocent human life. these wholesale murder clinics continue to take innocent lives. the prosecution of kermit gosnell is a positive step towards stopping our nation's slide toward unrestricted abortions. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. across this country we are seeing the ruinous effects of climate change, more powerful storms in the east to persistent drought and catastrophic wildfires in the west. we are not powerless in the face of this threat. we know what we have to do.

slow our emissions of greenhouse gases, deploy clean energy solutions, but we also must do another thing. we must manage our forestlands to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. healthy forests can help remove carbon dioxide from the environment, from the sphere. mr. huffman: we sometimes hear about technologies in the future may be able to do this, may be able to capture and store carbon dioxide, but we have natural infrastructure that can do it right now. and a great example of that is from my own district in california, the pacific forest trust. they have been working for over 20 years with landowners, as well as local, state, and federal officials to conserve and manage forests to capture carbon. their work with forest conservation easements is paying off for wildlife, landowners, and also for our climate. the forest in humble counties is the first registered in california. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i'm here to comment on the administration playing politics in an attempt to maximize the impact of the sequester on the american people n. this case the aviation system and traveling public. the f.a.a.'s operating budget has grown by nearly 110%, moret years as domestic flights are wn 27 the f.a.a.'s share o sequester represents 600 million of their $16 billion annual budget, about 5%. does anyone out there believe a federal government bureaucracy can't find this level of savings without affecting the american people? mr. bucshon: i don't. rather than furloughing air traffic controllers to make a political point, the f.a.a. should cut wasteful and unnecessary spending. mr. speaker, these cuts should not significantly impact the

aviation system, but the administration is failing to show leadership and trying to score political points. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i have the pleasure of being co-chair of the congressional asian pacific american caucus on health care with my colleague from california, representative barbara lee. mr. bera: who happens to be here in the chamber as well. i'd like to take this opportunity to recognize national minority health month. despite medical advances that save many lives in our country, there's been limited progress in ending the racial and ethnic disparities in health. groups like asian americans, native hawaiians, pacific islanders are higher rates of diabetes, certain types of cancer, and obesity, conditions

that are expensive to treat and have lasting consequences. in my district of sacramento unty, we have a large mung population, some cancer rates are 16 times higher than in the white populations and it's much more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage. that's one reason why this month i introduced the bipartisan resolution recognizing national minority cancer awareness week with my colleague, representative rodney davis. we must invest in research, innovation, and diagnosis to end this disparate. i celebrate national minority health month. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from montana seek recognition? mr. daines: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. daines: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the 86th montana world war ii veterans that recently made their way to washington, d.c., as part of

big sky honor flight. i'm so proud the honor flight program exists and i'm deeply thankful to all the volunteers that made this possible. as the son of a u.s. marine, i have a deep appreciation for the sacrifices our veterans have made in service to our nation. but i was struck by something that one of our montana world war ii vets said while sitting before the world war ii monument just this past monday. he said this, at the end of my life, i look around this memorial and i see the power of this nation. it's true. the monuments that line our national mall do remind us of the strength and perseverance of the united states. mr. speaker, i look at our veterans and service members from the members of the greatest generation to the men and women serving our nation today, and in them i he see the power of this nation, pounder and commitment to freedom and unwavering dedication to service. thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. green: mr. speaker and members, today i rise in opposition to the futh faith and credit act, h.r. 807. this bill would allow the secretary of the treasury to take all necessary actions to ensure u.s. public debt obligations are paid when due and allows the secretary to forego obligations not related to public debt. when that means is essentially all foreign debt will take precedent over repaying important demess beingic programs such as social security. we should pass legislation social security be paid for first not the foreign debt. social security is not contributed one penny to our national debt. we must remember it's one of our most important commitments america's made to its citizens. the u.s. government has purchased credit known as special obligations from social security. the credits are backed by the full faith and credit of the u.s. government with the promise to redeem these credits. i support repaying the social security trust fund, before any other debt is paid. pay social security first before we pay other countries.

i yield back my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, it was years ago when president obama and congressional democrats pushed through their government takeover of health care. mr. westmoreland: in those three short years, the law has already cost the american people over $2 trillion and has raised taxes another $1 trillion and the law isn't even full yen acted yet. and what do we have to show for it? higher government spending, higher tax, higher deficits. higher health insurance premiums and a lower quality of health care. companies all over the country are being forced to cut costs by laying off current employees or cutting their hours, putting on hold hiring new employees and halting expansion. that is bad for the american workers and bad for our economy. house republicans are committed to defunding, delaying and dismembering of obamacare and

will continue to fight for the american people to get rid of this terrible law and replace it with real reforms that will make our health care system stronger. as one senior democratic senator said, obamacare is a train wreck. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? mr. cohen: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. many people have been concerned about the sequester and the effects it's had on airplane flights and i am too. people are delayed a half hour, an hour, whatever, that's bad. but the biggest thing people ought to be upset about about the sequester is the fact that it takes $1.6 billion out of the national institute of health. each person, mr. speaker, in this room at one time will face a rand view with destiny and whether that rendezvous was cancer or heart disease or stroke or alzheimer's or aids or diabetes or parkinson's, the national institute of health is working for cures and treatments and by taking $1.6

billion from what is our personal department of defense, we are going to put certain people at risk for death and for trauma. that is wrong. there is no more important funding that we do than the national institutes of health. because that's our opportunity to save people's lives. i would introduce a bill to take that out of the sequester and ask my colleagues in a bipartisan manner to put the people first and the real enemy, disease, as our enemy and find the department -- the national institute of health funding to be full. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. mr. price: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the greatest amount of opportunity, the greatest amount of success for the great of the number of people. ensuring that the american dream lives for all. that's what we want. that's our goal. and our constituents know that

the path to that goal demands real solutions. sadly, all we hear from the president and the other side is just stay the course. more failed policies, more debt, more taxes, less american energy, more government control of health care, more dependency on government, less economic growth. that's their plan. and it simply isn't working for american families. and now the president is forcing air travel delays. blaming the action on the sequester. the f.a.a. is spending right now exactly what it spent in 2010. 2010. so these are obama flight delays. the truth is, any spending reduction at the f.a.a. could easily be gained by curting waste. not necessary services. president obama, stop playing politics with the american people. we in congress are used to it, but the public doesn't deserve it. enough is enough. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition?

the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to congratulate one of ventura county's most distinguished school districts. oak park unified school district, for winning the sustainability award from the u.s. department of education. oak park unified was one of just 14 school districts in the entire nation to receive this award which recognizes schools and school districts for their exemp lara efforts in reducing energy usage -- exemp lara efforts in reducing energy usage, promoting better health care and providing better quality environmental education to their students. ms. brownley: oak park unified elementary school students are taking produce from their school garden and greenhouse to a local free clinic where they

explain the impacts of diabetes to their patients and how to grow and enjoy healthy foods. and last year another team of students sponsored the districtwide week of whales and won the presidential environmental youth award. i am so honored to represent the oak park unified school district and am proud of their dedication to sustainability and to protecting the environment. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico seek recognition? the gentleman from new mexico is recognized for one minute. mr. pearce: mr. speaker, april is national sexual assault awareness and prevention month and in fact today is national d.n.a. day where we commemorate the discovery of d.n.a.'s double heelicks and the

subsequent scientific advancements. d.n.a. has revolutionized public safety and criminal justice in this country. it helps solve un-- it helped solve unsolved crimes since its inception in 1994. the d.n.a. database system has solved more than 200,000 cold cases that provides closure to over 200,000 families. it assists prosecutors in taking criminals off the streets. it also exonerates the innocent, having freed more than 300 convicted criminals. katie was a 22-year-old graduate student at new mexico state university in my district. august of 2003 she was brutally raped, strangled to death, burned and abandoned at a dump site. but katie was a fighter, having the d.n.a. of her offender under her fingernails. through d.n.a. they were able to find an convict her offender and put him in jail. the bill was signed into law here in this congress last year, which helps the states

collect evidence. d.n.a. has transformed our justice system and provided closure for families. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois seek recognition? the gentlelady from illinois is recognized for one minute. mrs. bustos: thank you, sir. i rise today to talk about the recent flooding that has impacted family as i cross my region. from rockford to the quad cities, to peoria, illinois, and in so many towns in between, communities large and small are suffering due to this month's record flooding. among the worst hit areas of my region is lyndon mills which is in the far southern part of my congressional district. many there are suffering. amanda franklin of london mills lost her home, many of her possessions and even her children's drawings that she has held onto s since they were in kindergarten. mathene webber lost her home of

almost a half a century to the flooding. there are far too many heartbreaking stories from across my region. while keeping in mind those who are still recovering, i'd also like to thank the first responders, the relief workers and others who have volunteered their time and their energy to help those in need. illinoisans are generous and compassionate and are resilient and hardworking. i have no doubt we will recover from this flooding. but, mr. speaker, this type of disaster could happen anywhere. as we continue to debate the issues of the day, i call on all of us to keep in mind the people who are suffering and be there for them. thank you very much, mr. speaker, and i do yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? the gentleman from ohio is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today as i am outraged by the actions that this white house is putting on the american public, unnecessary hardship in their

furloughing of air traffic controllers. this is not necessary. mr. gibbs: of a $10 billion operating budget, they have at least almost $3 billion of nonpersonal operations costs that they can make cuts there first. it would include $500 million for consultants, $325 million for supplies and travel, $143 million to address their 46 fleet of aircrafts. and aircraft travel in this time period is down 27%. this is unnecessary and the day we hear reports of air traffic controllers reporting that they've been instructed by management to make it as tough as possible on the traveling public. this is nothing but political rhetoric to gain and put pressure on the congress to pass more tax increases. i think it's despicable attitude by this white house as we should address it despicable and outrageous and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, on behalf of

congresswoman lee and myself, i rise to commemorate april as the 13th annual minority health month. before 2001, there was no national conference about house disparities. since then the congressional tricaucus has been tireless in efforts to education congress and the country about the disproportion burden of premature deaths and preventable illness in our minority communities. ms. roybal-allard: due to the advocacy of the tricaucus, the a.c.a. contained groundbreaking policies to reduce disparity such as increasing resources for community health clinics and institutionalizing federal efforts to achieve health equity. in spite of these important advancements, more must be done. it is critical to adequately fund proven health equity programs and pass the next steps of the tricaucus house equity bill which on behalf of the tricaucus i will introduce this fall. house justice will be achieved when every man, woman and child

in america has an equal opportunity to live a healthy life, regardless of who they are or where they live. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the chair lays before the house the following communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on april 25, 2013, at 9:15 a.m. appointments, advisory committee on the records of congress. national advisory committee on institutional quality and integrity. with best wished i am, signed, incerely, karen l. haas.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rom utah seek recognition? mr. bishop: mr. speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 178 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 20, house resolution 178, resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 527, to amend the helium act, to complete the privatization of the federal helium reserve in a competitive market fashion that ensures stability in the helium markets while protecting the interests of american taxpayers and for

other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on natural resources. after general debate, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. in lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on natural resources, now printed in the bill, it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-minute rule an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of rules committee print 113-9. that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. all points of order against that amendment in the nature of a substitute are waived. no amendment to that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those

printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution. each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified and the report -- in the report, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole. all points of order against such amendments are waived. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment, the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted. any member may demand a separate vote in the house on any amendment adopted in the committee of the whole to the bill or to the amendment in the nature of a substitute made in order as original text. .

the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and aleds thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. section 2, on any legislative day during the period from ril 27, 2013, through may 3, 2013, a, the journal of the proceedings of the previous day shall be considered as approved, and b, the chair may at any time declare the house adjourned to meet at a date and time within the limits of clause 4, section 5 article 1 of the constitution to be announced by the chair in declaring the adjournment. section 3, the speaker may appoint members to perform the duties of the chair for the duration of the period addressed by section 2 of this resolution as though under clause 8-a of rule 1. section 4, the committee on education and the work force may at any time before 5:00

p.m. on tuesday, april 30, 2013, file a report to accompany h.r. 1406. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah is recognized for one hour. mr. bishop: mr. speaker, for purposes of debate only, they -- i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. during the consideration of this resolution all time yielded is for purpose of debate only. i further ask that all members have five legislative days during which they may revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. bishop: this resolution provides a structured rule for e consideration of h.r. 527, the responsible helium administration and stewardship act. it makes several amendments in order which were client with the rules of the house. in fact, four of the five rules suggested to the rules committee will be presented.

the only one that was rejected is one that was duplicative of one that was added in here. so everything the members cared enough about to file in the appropriate way have been accommodated for the discussion we'll be having today on this particular bill. provides for one hour of general debate with 30 minutes equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on natural resources. it's a very fair and good rule. mr. speaker, i am pleased to stand before the house today in support of this rule and the underlying piece of legislation , h.r. 527, the responsible helium administration and stewardship act as opposed to the irresponsible helium administration and stewardship act, one could assume, coming from the other body. the underlying legislation is a bipartisan bill and enjoys a broad basis of support on both sides of the aisle. including the sponsor, the chairman of the natural resources committee, mr. hastings of washington, and the natural resources committee

ranking member, mr. markey. in fact, h.r. 527 was favorably reported out of the committee on natural resources on february 14 on a voice vote and there were no dissenting votes. i'd like to thank the chairman of the natural resources committee, the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, for his work on this commonsense bill and approach. mr. speaker, helium is an essential and vital element and commodity that we all depend on in countless ways. it's used widely in the scientific community, but also in the health care industry. vital to the proper functioning of m.r.i. equipment, hospitals. vital in the production of electronics such as microchips and superconductors. essential for science, nasa space program, helium is a byproduct of natural gas production. in short, we have heard from people for a long time what congress needs to do is come together and work in a bipartisan way.

find a compromise and present a solution that could actually solve some of the problems we are naysing. -- facing. this is exactly what this particular bill does do. the leadership both on republicans and democrats on the committee have crafted a bill in which they have come together and presented a compromise. we should be happy with this day. we should be celebrating this particular bill on the floor because it's the perfect example of government done right. when an elderly lady will call my district office and complain her social security check has not arrived, the most important issue of government to her is her social security check. and to me and my staff, the most important issue of government for us should be getting her social security check. i do not have the arrogance to try and tell her that, look, take the broad view of government, your issue is so small in conjunction to everything we are doing, it should be ignored until we do something more complicated first.

you find the problem and solve that particular problem. this is one of the situations we have here today. the concept of helium is a potential problem if we don't change the law that regulates it. and it will affect people in the manufacturing sector and in the health care sector. it will hurt real people. what we should celebrate is the fact that today republicans and democrats have come together and done what the people have requested and found a problem and suggested a good, commonsense solution to a problem in a rational and reasonable way. that is what we have before us today, mr. speaker. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from utah reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for as

much time as he wishes to consume. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to begin by thanking the majority for bringing up a bipartisan bill. it's not often that this majority works in a bipartisan way on legislation. in fact, it's a rarity. but in this case chairman hastings worked with ranking member markey to produce a bill that should pass the house with very, very little opposition. in fact, we have a streamline process here in the house for noncontroversial bills like this, it's called the suspension calendar. and this is a perfect bill for the suspension calendar, we could be done with this bill in 40 minutes. we could debate, vote, and send it to the senate so they can send it to the president. but instead the majority is stretching this bill out over two days. two days, mr. speaker, to consider a bill that isn't controversial. and will pass overwhelmingly. two days to consider this bill when there are so many other urgent challenges that this

majority continues to ignore. two days on the responsible helium administration and stewardship act. that's a lot of hot air even for this house. so while we are spending a ridiculous amount of time on this bill, the republican majority continues to ignore the economy. the gentleman from utah is right when he says that this could potentially be a problem if he we don't address this issue of helium, but that's not until the end of the fiscal year. we have some major problems right now, this very second, that the majority in this house continues to ignore. challenges that impact our constituencies all over this country. this sequester that my friends on the other side embraced is still going into effect. we have already seen cuts to programs like meals on wheels and on food pantries and wick recipients and head start facilities just to name a few. i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record, mr.

speaker, a news item that appeared on a local fox -- a fox affiliate in utah about -- nighted -- nighted sequestration forces food pantry to close. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: we started hearing reports about airport delays because of the sequester's impact on the f.a.a. i get a kick from my republican colleagues coming down here expressing their astonishment that there were airport delays as a result of sequestration. they actually had the tell merit to complain about those delays. i asked my friends on the other side of the aisle what did you think would happen when youet voted for unnecessary, arbitrary, sensely across-the-board cuts? my friends, republican friends remind me of claude raines in "casablanca" shocked that voting to slash funding for air traffic controllers would result in their flights being delayed. i want my friends to understand one thing, there are

consequences to their actions. there are consequences to the sequestration. the truth, mr. speaker, is that deficit reduction is an important goal, but deficit reduction alone is not an economic policy. we know that mindless austerity, budget cuts like this stupid sequester, are not going to help our economy grow and help people get jobs and help get our economy back on the footing we want it to be on. when bill clinton was president, when he rescued the economy in the 1990's, he did so through job creation. investing in our economy. we expanded the tax base by increasing the work force, bringing more revenue into the federal government and thereby reducing the deficit. here's the funny thing. despite the apocalyptic gloom and doom of some on the other side of the aisle, believe it or not the deficit is actually shrinking faster than expected. and the best thing we can do is to help speed up that process

by investing in our people and creating jobs. we should be promoting growth through infrastructure projects and job training programs. we should be creating long-term demand through research and development. not cutting the national institutes of health research budget. not cutting the national science foundation. we should be supporting these areas that can create innovation and opportunity. we should be investing our young people, preparing our students for the 2 isst century economy, but we are not doing any of that today. any of that today. and, yes, the bill before us that we are dealing with right now is fine. no problems. he yes, republicans and democrats work together on this in a way that is sadly uncommon for this current congress. but we aren't doing enough to solve our biggest -- our biggest problems. tomorrow when we adjourn after this overly -- overlong debate on this helium bill, we are going to take another week off.

the sixth week of recess that this house of representatives has taken since january. the sixth week-long he recess. with all that's going on. with all the difficulty that people all across this country are dealing with because of the sequestration, we are taking another week off. mr. speaker, i think we should do more, and we can do more, and we must do more. and we certainly could do better. so while i have no problem with this bill and while we don't deal with this helium issue, come the end of the fiscal career there may be a problem, we'll be able to -- fast enough, but right now there are urgent issues we need to face. not just airline delays, but there are people in this country who are falling through the cracks. there are people in this conindustry struggling who are seeing their benefits slashed because of this sequestration. there are research facilities all across this country that

are terminating important medical research programs ecause of the sequestration. we ought to deal with that. one other thing, mr. speaker, my friends on the other side of the aisle a few weeks ago made a big hoo-ha and sent out all kinds of press releases about how they are going to force the house and senate to pass budgets otherwise we would lose our salaries. well, the house passed a budget, a lousy budget, but the house passed bauth. the senate passed a budget as well. so two budgets. why doesn't the house move to go to conference? why are we trying to reconcile the differences between the house and the senate to try to get our budget situation under control? we are not doing that. we are not doing anything, quite frankly, that we need to do at this moment. i would urge my colleagues, this is a fine bill. vote for it. bipartisan support. mr. hastings, mr. marky, it's all good. but we are spending two days on this?

give me a break. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts reserves his time. the gentleman from utah is recognized. mr. bishop: for as much time as i shall consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to consume. mr. bishop: i wish to thank the gentleman from massachusetts for his kind words about the process that we are doing here. it is nice to be complimented on a bill which we have done correctly and done right. and i would suggest that it is wise of us to actually bring it here to the floor rather than put it on a suspension calendar. there were several representatives that wished to have a chance to speak to this and amend it. we are dealing with amendments to this particular bill which is once again why you bring it to the floor. otherwise they would be closed from that process. i also appreciate his comments about sequestration. i am very happy that he mentioned that because not only did i vote against the original one that established it but i voted twice for solutions to it. well before sequestration ever

was established. and in both of those bills passed in a bipartisan way and sent over to the senate, the senate responded by doing nothing. which is typical of a lot of things that simply happen around this place. in 1925 when the issue of helium was first addressed by congress, we made a mistake, the idea at the time was that dur ridgibles would be the source of aviation for the future and therefore helium was extremely successful. not the first time we have been wrong. the fact that we have steps leading out the east side of this capitol building going in that direction is because when this was originally laid out and established, everyone knew that washington, d.c., would grow to the east. . we've been wrong since the very inception of this city. but in 1925 the federal government enact legislation which created a federal helium reserve. and the federal government basically had a monopoly on the helium market ever since. after world war ii, the demand